


8:15

by ddagent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 21:46:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddagent/pseuds/ddagent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Breakfast was a well oiled affair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	8:15

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at ABC.
> 
> On the bus home from the cinema I started wondering why Neal didn’t go with Emma and Henry when clearly the SB!curse wouldn’t affect him. So this is them with alternate memories, all happy and together. My first Swanfire fic, quite exciting. Hope you enjoy!

The alarm clock started to bleep, disturbing Neal from the strangest dream. All his dreams had been strange lately, most of them involving his father. He’d mentioned it to Emma after they had become a regular thing and she had just chalked it up to him worrying about Henry heading to fourteen, the age he had been when his father had died. It seemed logical but there was just something not quite right about it. At least the dreams faded quickly.

 

Sitting up in bed, Neal looked over to his partner drooling into her pillow. Her blonde hair was a mess, the thin strap of pyjamas pulled down her shoulder. God she was beautiful. “Guess I’m making breakfast, huh?”

 

One blue eye opened and immediately closed again. Emma sunk deeper into the sheets, pulling a pillow over her head. “Just ten more minutes, okay?” She paused. “You make the bacon crispier than I do, anyway.”

 

Chuckling, Neal dropped a kiss to Emma’s bare shoulder and went to wash up. It had taken them some time and a lot of money but finally they had an apartment they were all happy with. Spacious rooms, lots of hidey holes where they could play with Henry. It was their castle, as Henry liked to call it. Their places in Tallahassee had been nice but there was just something about New York that felt like home to Neal. But he was pretty sure that anywhere with Henry and Emma would feel like home too.

 

In the kitchen he started breakfast, putting the bacon in the pan and getting the pancake mixture ready. The floorboards creaked to the left and Neal looked over to see his son, growing taller by the second, getting the watering can ready for the roses. Some days he still couldn’t believe he and Emma had a son and he was _twelve._ Soon he would be starting high school, soon they would be teaching him to drive in that beaten up yellow bug. Soon he would be buying his own castle.

 

He hoped he got to see it. “Morning Buddy.”

 

“Hey Dad,” Henry called over from the roses. “You making the bacon all nice and crispy?”

 

“Like you and your Mom would have it any other way.”

 

Once Henry was done with the flowers he came over to help him cook. Neal wrapped an arm around his son, steering him close to the stove to poke the eggs while he flipped the pancakes. At the back of their apartment he heard Emma finally get out of bed. She joined them in the kitchen, dropping a kiss to Henry’s hair before brushing her lips against his.  

 

Sometimes it didn’t seem real. The woman he loved, their son he adored. For so many years he had been desperate for a family. Now he had everything he wanted, right down to the amazing New York view.

 

“Okay, grubs up. Buddy, could you lay the table for me?”

 

Leaving the eggs, Henry went to get the cutlery and plates. Emma turned the coffee machine on to get their drinks ready. They had breakfast down to a well-oiled machine, both he and Emma taking the time to spend it together before they dropped Henry off to school. Soon enough they were all ready to eat, a mountain of pancakes and bacon and eggs in the middle.

 

Emma dropped their drinks down in front of them but Henry didn’t touch his. “Mom, you forgot something.”

 

She looked at their hot chocolates and rolled her eyes. “Neal, do you mind?”

 

“Not a problem,” he said, reaching behind him to grab the cinnamon shaker. Whenever he had hot chocolate he always preferred chocolate on top. But with Emma and Henry it was cinnamon or nothing. In the mornings, though, he preferred tea. He always had it in the same cup, a lost one from one of his father’s old sets. There was a chip in the rim but Neal had never been able to throw it out.

 

“Good bacon today,” Emma commented, getting a second helping.

 

Neal grinned, grabbing a few more pancakes. “Thanks. But it’s not all my doing. Hats off to the pig.”

 

Henry giggled and they all continued to eat. Just as Neal finished his cup of tea and placed it down on the table there was a knock at the door. Both he and Emma stared in the direction of the front door, their hands frozen above their plates. It had been many years since they had been on the wrong side of the law and they had grown used to not jumping every time the doorbell rang. But sometimes, when they least expected it, their old life would come rushing back.

 

This time the knock turned into a pounding and Neal got up before Emma did. “I got it.”

 

Making his way to the front door, Neal first looked out of the peep hole. No one there. Undoing the latch, he peered out into the corridor. Down the end he saw a brunette slip into the elevator, a whisper of a blue dress all he saw before the doors closed shut. Strange. That would have been the end of it had there not been a brown box lying in front of their door.

 

“What the hell?”

 

Neal picked it up, weighing it in his hands. It didn’t feel overly heavy, there were no liquids leaking onto. He brought it inside and laid it on the kitchen table to examine it further. There was no note, no address either sent or return. Taking off the lid of the box, Neal peered inside. Any worries about anything dangerous or disgusting immediately vanished. It was just a book.

 

“Cool, can I have it?” Henry asked, peering into the box with his father.

 

Emma joined the peering, eventually reaching into the box to pull out the book. She flicked through a few of the pages. Illustrations, a lot of text. She turned to Neal and shrugged. With no note, no address, it didn’t look like anyone would miss it. “Sure. Knock yourself out, kid.”

 

Henry took the book from his mother, his smile widening as his fingers traced the lettering on the front. “ _Once Upon a Time._ Think it’ll have a happy ending?”

 

Neal sat back down, ready to return to breakfast. “Don’t they all?”

 

As their son started to read his new book, Neal reached across the table and clutched at Emma’s hand. After years of running, they both finally had theirs. He only hoped it would last. 


End file.
